The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method and a recording medium for automatically creating a recommended product (recommended composite image) in accordance with a theme of a group of images selected from among a large number of images possessed by a user and proposing the recommended product to the user when the user creates a photo product (composite image) such as a photo book.
A photo book is a photo album that is created to have the layout desired by a user with a predetermined number of images selected by the user from among a plurality of images (image data) possessed by the user. Examples of photo products include, in addition to photo books, shuffle prints (in which a plurality of images are randomly arranged on a single mount), post cards and usual photo prints.
Conventionally, a photo book has been expected to be created from about several hundred images taken at one event such as a travel and a wedding. On the other hand, in recent years, by users each having a large number of images but not having time to create a photo book, a photo book is created as a memorial album from a large number of, i.e., 1000 to several thousands of images taken in a year, for instance.
However, there has been a problem in that it is extremely troublesome for a user to select images the user desires to put in a photo book from a large number of images and to think about the layout, i.e., how and which photo to arrange in each page of the photo book.
To cope with it, at present, an automatic layout function is realized in which, by specifying a photographing period of images and the number of pages of a photo book, a predetermined number of images having been specified with the photographing period are automatically selected from among a large number of images, and the layout of respective pages of the photo book which has been specified in terms of the number of pages is automatically created using the predetermined number of images as selected. Consequently, a user can easily produce a photo book from a large number of images without much trouble.
While the number of times users take images (photographs) increases with the growth of mobile phones, smartphones and digital still cameras (DSCs), a large number of images taken with such devices are often stored without being well-organized. In the case where, for instance, a photo book is created using those images, there are a variety of choices such as Examples 1 to 4 shown below as a theme of the photo book.